Jared Leto Claims Suicide Squad Method Acting Stories Are Fake News

5 months ago

Jared Leto is finally setting the record straight about all of the extreme stories from the set of Suicide Squad. Leto is currently out promoting his latest project, Blade Runner 2049, which is set to hit theaters next week and the actor took some time out of a recent interview to discuss the mythical proportions that his preparation for the Joker has taken on over the past few years. The Joker served as more of a supporting role in Suicide Squad, but Leto took a up the lion’s share of the attention when the project was in production and after the movie hit theaters.

Suicide Squad was Jared Leto’s first substantial role after winning an Academy Award for his work in The Dallas Buyers Club, so there was already a pretty intense spotlight on the actor for taking on one of the most famous villains in history and comparisons started popping up immediately. Leto is known for his method acting technique and his reported behavior on the set started to gain mythical status as he reportedly tried to compete with the Jokers that had come before him.

While speaking to Entertainment Weekly Radio, Jared Leto was asked about his preparation to get into the Clown Prince of Crime character and that’s when he decided to finally come clean about the bizarre and extreme stories about his method acting on the set of Suicide Squad. Leto explains.

“There were some things that were mentioned about gifts and the fact that I was giving used condoms to people, which was not true. It was not true.”

The used condom gag seemed to be the most far-fetched and inappropriate of the rumors, but it served a purpose and helped push along the narrative that Jared Leto was not messing around for his portrayal of the Joker. Plus, why let the truth get in the way of a good story?

Though Leto didn’t give out used condoms and other equally creepy gifts, he did actually give gifts that he thought the Joker might give to the cast and crew. But as it turns out, these gifts were fairly tame when compared to the mythical stories out there. It’s easy to see where all of the embellished stories came from after Leto explained his methods. He had this to say.

“I gave wrapped gifts to everyone, and people were thrilled to get them. They were laughing. We were giving whatever The Joker would give was the idea … It was really touching at the end to go and give the gifts. We’d be filming and people would be laughing, and they’d go and open up and there’d be a porno magazine or something, you know, ‘plus 60’ … ‘It would be whatever would be funny. You know, whatever would be absurd or outrageous.”

Though the rumors of the behind-the-scenes antics surely helped to promote Suicide Squad, it didn’t make up for the fact that the Joker was barely in the movie, but as the actor says, the rumors began to snowball. Leto explains.

“Some of the stuff that you do can go viral or get written about. Especially with the Joker, some of that stuff just took on a life of its own. And most of it was total bullshit … What are you going to do at that moment? It doesn’t matter how loudly you shout or hold up a sign with your pants off in Times Square, people are going to go with the story that they want to run. And it just wasn’t true.”

Jared Leto’s method acting in no secret, but as it turns out, most of the crazy stories from the set of Suicide Squad are completely false, but still pretty believable when thinking of Leto’s process while getting into characters. Regardless, those rumors are sure to fire up again soon when Leto gets back into the Joker character for The Joker and Harley Quinn and Suicide Squad 2. In the meantime, you can check out Jared Leto’s interview with Entertainment Weekly Radio below.